Snippets

A few blog-snippets, none worthy of an entire post on their own!

* Just had a call from my parents, to wish me a happy birthday for later this weekend. Mom's going back into hospital tomorrow, as my aunt goes home on Sunday and dad can't care for her on his own. She is sound a LOT better on the phone - her symptoms are improved, but she's not getting better as such. Just feels more able to walk/talk/live. And STILL hanging in there. Her doc says he's never had a liver-failure patient last this long. Could the anointing service she requested 2 weeks back have something to do with it? One thing made me sad when she phoned, and that was her wishing me "a longer life than I've had"....

* Got Metallica's "I Disappear" blasting forth from my speakers at the moment - I'm such a closet metal-head... :) Super song though. Been looking for it for ages, and finally located! (certain conservative Christians passing by don't look all that impressed though. tough luck) I've come to the conclusiong that my music tastes do rather run to the alternative. And all the time I thought I was kinda mainstream. Oh well.

* My home computer and internet access is nearly a go (blogging from home a reality soon!). The computer is getting a few tweaks, then we'll plug it in and see if the entire network system works. I'm a guinea-pig for some technology they're trying, so it's a bit of hit-and-miss at the moment as to what I will and won't be able to accomplish. But it's a whole lot better then nothing at all!

* Is it December already? Where the heck did the year go? It seems like only yesterday I was planning nothing for my birthday - and now I'm planning nothing again! :) Fortunately, my sis-in-law has taken it upon herself to plan something, so we're off to Cape Town for a meal tomorrow in celebration of a few more wrinkles and grey hairs on my part.

* The roadworks here have taken over. I'll be lucky to get anywhere when I have to do my grocery shopping this afternoon. Let's hope they do a proper job and finish within the two weeks they've stated.

* Wind. Man, I hate it. And I live in the wrong part of the world as a wind-hater. Last night we had such gusting, strong wind that the neighbour's ill-secured window came crashing down into my garden. Still discovering shards of glass, though I thought I'd nabbed them all.

* And nabbing is what I seem to be doing every day with the dogs. They're getting out somehow and running the property ragged. I see them passing the office and have to go running after them! I suspect the leak is where the maintenance/destruction team took out plants to paint, as we've wired the gate closed when not in use and they can't be getting out that way. Seems I may have to invest in a few extra metres of proper fencing. The makeshift stuff I've got up right now doesn't seem to be helping. But at least I don't need to walk them now! :)

* I'm totally looking forward to the Christmas baking coming up at the end of next week when I "officially" go on leave (but still have to check in here daily for urgent stuff, though will be able to access and respond to emails from home). This time of year I get stuck into all sorts of goodies, and as half my Xmas prezzies are going to be home-made foodstuffs, the kitchen is going to see some action. Diet? What diet? It's CHRISTMAS, for goodness sake!

* I'm a complete dumpster-diver. Born and bred, and inherited from generations up the family tree. Those wood blocks I've made for my nephew? The box they will come in is "recycled" from old drawers chucked out here during renovations. The sides are beautiful golden gum wood. How can you throw out something like that? I'm considering asking them to dump any other wood they assume to chuck, right at my back door. And here's more proof of my pack-rat capabilities - driving to town the other day I spotted an old metal garden hose reel, the kind with a handle to wind the hose onto the reel. Been wanting one for ages, so of course I stopped and aquired it! And the most fun my son and I ever had at the mall was fossicking behind it - we came away with loads of interesting stuff, and a whole lot of chipboard too! Most of my home furniture (tables and such) is reclaimed from rubbish heaps, and still works jolly well, thank you very much. But I'm considering making a few new things, once cash-flow allows me to. I've been eyeing a couple of book-cases and room dividers that I want to try. Basic, easy stuff. I'm no expert. Yet.

* Friday. Don't you love switching off the alarm on a Friday for the weekend? Knowing you can wake up at whatever time you choose for the next few days. Not being shocked awake by some electronic bleeping. Lovely stuff (provided the neighbours shut up).